Spring 2025
Proseminar: Introduction to Graduate Studies in Journalism
Matthew Hay Brown MS, Americas Editor, The Washington Post
This graduate proseminar introduces students to the fundamentals and practices of journalism at the graduate level research, interviewing, reporting, and writing by exposing them to a variety of reporting assignments. Students learn how to construct a lead as well as how to structure a story. They experience the difference between a feature story and a news story by having to write them both.
Prerequisites: A satisfactory score on the mandatory test of critical reading and writing skills or a B or higher grade in the alternate expository writing course.
Fall 2024
Proseminar: Introduction to Graduate Studies in Journalism
June Carolyn Erlick MSJ, Publications Director, David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, and Editor-in-Chief, ReVista: Harvard Review of Latin America, Harvard University
This graduate proseminar introduces students to the fundamentals and practices of journalism at the graduate level research, interviewing, reporting, and writing by exposing them to a variety of reporting assignments. Students learn how to construct a lead as well as how to structure a story. They experience the difference between a feature story and a news story by having to write them both.
Prerequisites: A satisfactory score on the mandatory test of critical reading and writing skills or a B or higher grade in the alternate expository writing course.
Spring 2025
The Constitution and the Media
Franklin J. Schwarzer JD, Attorney, Schlesinger and Buchbinder, LLP - Elisabeth J. Ryan MPH, JD, Policy Counsel, Everytown for Gun Safety
This course examines the concept of freedom of the press the basis for it and the restrictions on it in the United States. We begin by examining the concept of free speech and free press as used in the First Amendment of the US Constitution and trace its historical development to the present. We discuss the ways the Supreme Court has addressed three contentious press issues: the conflict between disclosure and national security (for example, the Pentagon Papers case); the defamation of public figures in news reporting (New York Times Co. v. Sullivan); and reporters' shield laws and the limits of the journalist's privilege to keep sources confidential. We also examine the constitutional basis for governmental regulation of broadcast content, and the interplay (or tension) between cyberspace and freedom of the press (for example, the 2011 Wikileaks controversy).
Fall 2024
Commentary and Op-Ed Writing
Matthew Hay Brown MS, Americas Editor, The Washington Post
The media is awash in opinions. From legacy news organizations to social media to open platforms to podcasts, everyone has access to a megaphone. This course helps students develop the skills they need to be heard above the din. We discuss exemplary editorials, op-ed pieces, reported essays, and criticism and produce our own, focusing on factual reporting, well-supported argument, and powerful, persuasive writing. We meet with practitioners and learn how to pitch our pieces for professional publication.
Prerequisites: An introductory journalism course, some journalism experience, or permission of the instructor.
Spring 2025
Feature Writing
Kimberly Cross MA, Author
Feature writing combines the literary craft of fiction with the fact-gathering skills of the journalist, historian, and documentary filmmaker. The best feature stories are both timely and timeless, using a narrative as a vehicle to touch upon something expansive, some universal truth or subtle meaning. Feature stories can take many forms. In this course, we focus on two: a first-person personal narrative (2,000 words) and a third-person reconstructed narrative (3,000 words). A sequence of weekly writing exercises build up to both. Students learn the publishing process from pitch to publication, with emphasis on immersion reporting, interviewing, story structure, editing, and fact-checking. Students also learn organizational techniques essential for stories with many sources and tools that enable them to reconstruct scenes they are not able to witness as a writer. The end goal of this course is to complete and polish two feature stories to submit to a target publication.
Prerequisites: An introductory journalism course, some journalism experience, or permission of the instructor.
Fall 2024
Feature Writing: First-Person Stories and Essays
Ruth Tam BA, Journalist and Podcast Host
Personal essays have been a part of journalism and nonfiction literature for generations. But recently, the heightened interest in creators, and the growth in outlets for personal expression, have caused a boom of first-person storytelling. From TikToks and tweet threads to essay collections and podcasts, first-person stories are dominating our cultural conversations. But what does it take to tell your own story well? How can you use the tools of journalism to report on yourself and contribute to the larger conversation? In this course, students learn the elements of successful first-person writing and develop their own style and voice. In analyzing others' work and writing their own short and long form essays, students learn how to weave reporting with first-person narrative storytelling. Writers we read and discuss include Jennifer Senior, Cathy Park Hong, and Kiese Laymon.
Prerequisites: A writing or journalism course, professional journalism experience, or permission of the instructor.
Fall 2024
Feature Writing: First-Person Stories and Essays
Ruth Tam BA, Journalist and Podcast Host
Personal essays have been a part of journalism and nonfiction literature for generations. But recently, the heightened interest in creators, and the growth in outlets for personal expression, have caused a boom of first-person storytelling. From TikToks and tweet threads to essay collections and podcasts, first-person stories are dominating our cultural conversations. But what does it take to tell your own story well? How can you use the tools of journalism to report on yourself and contribute to the larger conversation? In this course, students learn the elements of successful first-person writing and develop their own style and voice. In analyzing others' work and writing their own short and long form essays, students learn how to weave reporting with first-person narrative storytelling. Writers we read and discuss include Jennifer Senior, Cathy Park Hong, and Kiese Laymon.
Prerequisites: A writing or journalism course, professional journalism experience, or permission of the instructor.
Spring 2025
Race, Media, and News Writing
Austin Bogues MA, Assistant Washington Editor, USA Today
This course examines the role race plays in current events and news writing. Students read a variety of opinion and news reporting pieces, and develop multiple original reporting pieces involving issues of race, race relations, and demographics in the United States. The course also brings in guest speakers to discuss reporting on race.
Prerequisites: An introductory journalism course, some journalism experience, or permission of the instructor.
Spring 2025
Investigative Reporting
Jenifer B. McKim BA, Deputy Investigative Editor, GBH News
Investigative reporters use documents, data, and human sources to tell true stories, hold the powerful accountable, and amplify the voices of the powerless. In this course, students learn the skills and techniques that are essential for impact-driven investigative journalists working in the current market, including how to interview vulnerable and hostile sources, mine the internet, and gather and analyze data to bring information to light. Students learn about their legal rights to access public records under state and federal laws, find and draft out a story, and respond to obstacles and roadblocks by examining examples of impact-driven journalism. By the end of the course, students have reported and completed a story that should be ready for publication.
Prerequisites: A basic journalism course or permission of the instructors.
Fall 2024
Magazine Writing
Martha Nichols MA, Founder and Publisher, Talking Writing Magazine
Magazine writing is the home of good storytelling and in-depth feature writing, even as digital media has blurred the lines between news and magazine sites. In this course, students try out different magazine styles and voices, exploring a range of channels (including health and lifestyle, politics, business, and science), with some multimedia options. We delve into the nuts-and-bolts of pitching and publishing magazine articles as a freelancer as well as the many ethical conundrums that have popped up in recent years. Throughout, we return to the question of what it means to be a trustworthy and engaging magazine writer in the digital age.
Prerequisites: An introductory journalism course, journalism experience, or permission of the instructor.
Fall 2024
Podcasting
Iris Adler MA, Journalist and Podcast Consultant
There are more than two million podcasts currently available, and the number of podcasts and the audience for them grow by the day. It has become essential for journalists to gain the skills required for creating compelling audio stories. In this course, students choose a topic they would like to explore in a podcast of their own and they develop the skills necessary to produce it: reporting, audio storytelling, scripting, interviewing, and basic audio production.
Prerequisites: Basic journalism course or the equivalent.
Spring 2025
Podcasting
Iris Adler MA, Journalist and Podcast Consultant
There are more than two million podcasts currently available, and the number of podcasts and the audience for them grow by the day. It has become essential for journalists to gain the skills required for creating compelling audio stories. In this course, students choose a topic they would like to explore in a podcast of their own and they develop the skills necessary to produce it: reporting, audio storytelling, scripting, interviewing, and basic audio production.
Prerequisites: Basic journalism course or the equivalent.
Fall 2024
Video Storytelling for Social Media
Marisa N. Palmer BA, Graduate Research Assistant, Crime and Justice Policy Lab, University of Pennsylvania
What type of content makes the internet tick? 27,000 new users join the internet every hour and digital journalists need to capture their attention by identifying compelling topics and reporting on them from every angle. In addition, real news requires real coverage. Video documentaries provide a multi-sensory insight into the news happening right now. In this light, students select a topic of personal interest (such as social justice, the arts, food, or community), interview a diverse array of experts on that topic, and use basic, accessible camera equipment and professional editing software to produce a final project of a short documentary. Along the way, students develop a fundamental understanding of social video metrics, looking behind the curtain of high-performing videos published on well known platforms. Guest lecturers include producers behind some of the internet's most eye-catching stories and members of social distribution teams who know how to make videos go viral. By the end of this course, students have a completed video documentary to add to their portfolio.
Prerequisites: Basic journalism course or the equivalent.
Fall 2024
Photojournalism
Samantha K. Appleton BA, Freelance Photojournalist
This course is an introduction to photojournalism for students and professionals. Through weekly photo assignments and critiques, students learn to look critically at images, make photographs that are both creative and rich in content, and produce a body of work through the editing and sequencing of images. The course touches on the historic role of photography through the essential work of photographers like Dorothea Lange, Yoichi Okamoto, and James Nachtwey, but focuses on the process of creating a lasting photograph. By the end of the course, students have a portfolio of images and basic strategies for working in the industry.
Prerequisites: A basic understanding of photography. This course spends only a small amount of time on technical issues.
Spring 2025
Covering Washington
Matthew Hay Brown MS, Americas Editor, The Washington Post - Jessica Gresko MA, News Manager, The Associated Press
Decisions made in Washington affect every American and the journalism produced in the nation's capital is some of the most important and impactful work we do. In this course, students conceive, develop, report, and write the investigative story of their choice under the guidance of two veteran Washington journalists and teachers. We study exemplary coverage of Congress, the White House, the Supreme Court, federal agencies, lobbying, campaign finance, and politics. Students pitch their story ideas for peer feedback. We meet for a weekend in the capital to visit with newsmakers, professionals, and journalists, and report our stories on the ground.
Prerequisites: A basic journalism course or permission of the instructor.
Spring 2025
Reviewing the Performing Arts
Sarah L. Kaufman MSJ, Author and Arts and Culture Critic
This workshop course offers practical guidance for journalists who wish to write about the performing arts, including film, drama, music, and dance. We read and analyze works by such critics and essayists as Manohla Dargis, Justin Chang, Wesley Morris, Amanda Petrusich, Naveen Kumar, Vinson Cunningham and Maya Phillips. Students write film, theater, music, and other reviews and critical essays, while learning to develop their skills in perception, analytical thinking, organization, and persuasiveness. We hear from guest writers, watch recorded and live performances, and investigate criticism's ability to build new knowledge of the arts, drawing from work published in a variety of media, both legacy and new. Students learn to develop their own distinctive voices while tapping into their critical faculties to analyze the arts in fresh and convincing ways. Although this is a course for journalists, it is useful for students with an interest in performance or in dramatic writing because it provides a new understanding of the view from the other side of the stage and screen.
Fall 2024
Journalism Capstone Project
June Carolyn Erlick MSJ, Publications Director, David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, and Editor-in-Chief, ReVista: Harvard Review of Latin America, Harvard University
The capstone is the culmination of the student's work in the Master of Liberal Arts, journalism program and consists of a series of substantial stories completed in one semester. The capstone generally consists of three to five related pieces, text or multi-media based, in different styles. Text-based projects are generally about 5,000 words; the parameters of projects in other media are determined by the student and the project director together, and are based on the requirements of the story. Past capstone directors have included Boston Globe editors and reporters, former fellows from the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard, and other professionals in the field.
Prerequisites: Registration is limited to officially admitted candidates in the Master of Liberal Arts, journalism. Prospective degree candidates and students with pending admission applications are not eligible. Candidates must be in good academic standing with a minimum of 36 degree-applicable credits completed with required grades. In addition, candidates must submit capstone proposals by June 1. Candidates who do not meet these degree requirements or do not have their capstone proposals approved by the deadline are dropped from the course. See the capstone website for proposal details and approval deadlines.
Spring 2025
Journalism Capstone Project
June Carolyn Erlick MSJ, Publications Director, David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, and Editor-in-Chief, ReVista: Harvard Review of Latin America, Harvard University
The capstone is the culmination of the student's work in the Master of Liberal Arts, journalism program and consists of a series of substantial stories completed in one semester. The capstone generally consists of three to five related pieces, text or multi-media based, in different styles. Text-based projects are generally about 5,000 words; the parameters of projects in other media are determined by the student and the project director together, and are based on the requirements of the story. Past capstone directors have included Boston Globe editors and reporters, former fellows from the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard, and other professionals in the field.
Prerequisites: Registration is limited to officially admitted candidates in the Master of Liberal Arts, journalism. Prospective degree candidates and students with pending admission applications are not eligible. Candidates must be in good academic standing with a minimum of 36 degree-applicable credits completed with required grades. In addition, candidates must submit capstone proposals by October 1. Candidates who do not meet these degree requirements or do not have their capstone proposals approved by the deadline are dropped from the course. See the journalism capstone project crafting the capstone proposal form for proposal details and approval deadlines.